Hiker Well 4 Surgeries After Lion Attack

Wife Nell Saved Jim Hamm; They Celebrated 50th Anniversary In Hospital

(CBS/AP)  A hiker whose wife saved him as he was being mauled by a mountain lion has mostly recovered after four surgeries, including a scalp transplant.

"I'm doing well. My right hand is still bad, but otherwise I've pretty much recovered," Jim Hamm, 70, said on The Early Show Wednesday.

Hamm and his 65-year-old wife, Nell, were hiking at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in January when the mountain lion pounced on Jim Hamm. The lion scalped him, mauled his face and inflicted other wounds.

"I knew every second counted because the lion had a hold of Jim, and there was this long log, about 8 feet long, and I ... just started hitting the lion," Nell Hamm said. "I had to be careful where I hit her because of the fact that she had Jim's head in her mouth. I just started hitting the biggest part of her."

"She told me it wasn't working, and I told her, 'Get my pen,' " Jim Hamm said. She asked him where the pen was, and he told her it was in his pocket. "I said put it in its eye and shove it in."

But that didn't work. Nell continued to batter at the cat.

"She was trying not to hit it in the head because of my head being there, and I was trying to tell her to go for it, but I don't think she was hearing me," Jim told co-anchor Hannah Storm. "She started jabbing it with the end of the limb. And I think that confuses them or something, because then it let go of me, backed up and started to take her, and she yelled at me that 'It's got me,' and I raised up, and it was crouched to spring at her.

"She was screaming and holding the limb up above it. It was about four feet away," Hamm said. "It glared at her and then it finally decided to call it off and turned around and walked off in the ferns."

Trackers later shot and killed the animal and its mate.

Doctors in San Francisco took muscle from his back and put it on his skull, along with a vein, then covered it with skin from his thigh. Hamm is still receiving physical therapy on his right hand, which the animal mauled. But his flashbacks are fading, and he has accepted being completely bald.

"I'm doing very well, and the doctors are pretty happy," he said.

The couple hiked the North Coast forests for years but haven't been back since the attack.

"You know the surfer who gets bit by a shark and goes back out? I have no reason to do that," Jim Hamm told The Sacramento Bee. "I don't want to expose Nell. I've just had too much of a traumatic experience. There might be a time, but I doubt it."

Nell was honored by the California legislature as its "Woman of the Year" for her actions that day.

The couple just celebrated their 50th anniversary at Jim's bedside.

"It was the most special anniversary that we'd had because he came so close to not being there with me. So we are very, very thankful," Nell said on The Early Show.

[hunter10039]

I just previously read about the 11 year old that saved the 22 month old toddler, attacked in their back yard by a coyote, in New Jersey area about 40 miles from N.Y.

It seems that now-a-days, humans have got to be EVER MORE CAREFUL about wild animals attacking.

Couple years past,...We had 5 of our milking goats killed by mountain lions, at our little ranch, in the Mendocino National forest, and when I went out "mid day", to check the corpse of one, the lion had come back to finish her meal, and she suddenly jumped up onto the opposite bank of the creek, when i approached..

the two small dogs that were with me ran off in fear, leaving me unprotected, so I had to face the cat by myself. I had a big walking stick, and swung it and screamed at the huge cat....but it just stared at me in offense, because I interrupted her noonday meal, ignored me for a while, before it finally took off with a surley expression on its face.

Now we have brave Queensland Heeler dogs for my protection, as they will stay and protect, and won't abandon a human, when danger approaches.

[kiddo88]

It's so nice to hear of such a good story these days. I think this couple is amazing! And the doctors and surgeons and nurses too all deserve credit for saving him too.

but for SHAME! some people in here have more manners than brains! *coughknyghtwolf* I love to live in the great northwoods and I take great pride in knowing I own and protect 15 acres of old growth forest. My husband and I enjoy hunting hiking camping and jeeping, all the while contributing more to wilderness protection than half the jumped up peta activists combined.

Enjoy our wilderness!

[phoenix1218]

WOW, You can't feel the love in this 'room'. People have every right to walk in the woods. If they do they have to expect that the possability of being confronted by wildlife is there and these people although unprepared toughed it out, fought back and won. I say good for them. I don't know if I agree with killing the animals. I am not sure they did it for retalliation or not. What this wife did to protect her husband would be what any normal loving spouse would do for their significant other. It was survival instinct. I say good for her!!! and I think it is a blessing that he has made it as far as he has considering the kind of animal he was attacke by nad I hoep for his continuing recovery. GOD has blessed this couple with 50 years and there must be a reason for them to have survived this and continue to be together.

[me4prezz]

Sorry but we don't own this planet, we share it with ALL the other life forms too. And for those lowbrow, profit seeking F*CKTARDS killing Raccoon dogs for their fur, I hope some day YOU find out what its like to be slaughtered nice and slow & while onlookers laugh at you and bet on how soon you die. Sometimes the ONLY way humans learn is by EXPERIENCING the same things they do to others, thats why racism is so prevelent these days, the thought of someone of another color doing to YOU what your ancestors did to another group of minorities scares the living *** out of you.
Posted by knyghtwolf at 12:56 PM : Apr 11, 2007

No we don't own it. Yes, we share it. But by taking a hike on a hiking trail, you don't expect to be eaten alive and if that mountain lion had been attacked of a sudden and out of the blue by another animal, they would have defended themselves to the death as well. That is just survival mode. The couple fought back and there is no shame or blame in that. I do, however, disagree with killing the lions in retaliation.

[me4prezz]

knyghtwolf:

So, you are a vegetarian then?

[clip24]

Yes, mainemade has it right. Congratulations for making it to your 50th Anniversary! And I hope you enjoy many more happy years together dispite what obstacles get thrown your way.
What I should of said in the first place and ignored the rants of others.

[mainemade]

Way to go wifey for saving your hubby.

Happy 50th Anniversary! Most couples today are lucky if they see 10 to 20 yrs together before the divorce. You two are survivors....

[clip24]

How on earth did you manage to turn your little rant about something as simple as a woman saying her husband from a Mountain Lion and my short comment into some religious slant? I never mentioned God, you did! I was completely taken a back by the amount of incredible HATE that comes through in comments on a small simple story. Lighten up buddy and see a shrink.

[knyghtwolf]

Several of my loved ones got attacked or killed by idiots like you rather than real animals. What part of my OPINION did not make sense to you? YOU are the IDIOT for thinking that what that man did was justified, or was it something I said that hit closer to home for a feeb such as yourself? Truth hurts doesn't it ***.

[clip24]

knyghtwolf, all I have to say is your an idiot! I bet you would be singing a different tune if it was one of your loved ones, if you even have any.

[knyghtwolf]

Stay out of the wooded areas dude, we are rapidly using up all the available land that should be untouched for them (animals) to live as well. I have always believed that IF you go into their territory, YOU are food for thought. Sorry but we don't own this planet, we share it with ALL the other life forms too. And for those lowbrow, profit seeking F*CKTARDS killing Raccoon dogs for their fur, I hope some day YOU find out what its like to be slaughtered nice and slow & while onlookers laugh at you and bet on how soon you die. Sometimes the ONLY way humans learn is by EXPERIENCING the same things they do to others, thats why racism is so prevelent these days, the thought of someone of another color doing to YOU what your ancestors did to another group of minorities scares the living *** out of you.